London (AFP)

The British government has announced Saturday suspend hydraulic fracturing to extract shale gas from the subsoil, because of the risk of seismic shocks.

Business and Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom said she made the decision following a report by the oil and gas regulator, OGA, investigating recent seismic activity near the airport. a site where hydraulic fracturing is practiced, at Preston New Road, Lancashire (North West England).

"After reviewing the report of the OGA (...), it is clear that we can not rule out further unacceptable consequences for the local population," Leadsom said in a statement.

"For this reason, I concluded that we should introduce a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in England with immediate effect," she added.

The government said it would not give its consent to new hydraulic fracturing projects "unless new convincing evidence is provided".

The process of hydraulic fracturing consists of creating underground cracks and infiltrating a mixture of water, sand and chemicals to allow the extraction of gas or oil captured in the rock.

The technique is controversial because of its environmental impact and provoked a strong protest from the concerned populations and environmental activists.

The Greenpeace association welcomed the announcement of the government, which fell at the beginning of the campaign for the December 12 legislative elections, hailing "the great merit of grassroots activists all over the country".

"The government's big gamble on hydraulic fracturing is a fiasco," said Rebecca Newsom, program manager at the NGO, quoted in a statement.

- David against Goliath -

The United Kingdom had supported this experiment in the hope of reducing its reliance on gas, imported mainly from Norway and Qatar.

The Conservative government had expected in 2016 that 20 wells could be opened by mid-2020.

However, to date, only three wells have been drilled, with no shale gas operations having begun and without the government knowing what quantities could be extracted in the long run, a report from the National Audit Office recently underlined. (NAO), body responsible for controlling public expenditure.

According to the NAO, industry professionals explained the delay in overly strict UK regulation of seismic tremors induced by hydraulic fracturing.

This regulation provides, among other things, to suspend fracking temporarily, when an earthquake greater than 0.5 on the Richter scale occurs as a result of the extraction operations.

It was also after a shock last August that the company Cuadrilla decided to suspend indefinitely its drilling of Preston New Road, near Blackpool, which was the only project underway in the United Kingdom.

The NAO also pointed out that hydraulic fracturing is costly for local authorities and law enforcement officials because of the many demonstrations they cause, the disruption of road traffic and the need to ensure safety on the roads. sites.

Executive Director of Environmental NGO Friends of the Earth Craig Bennett praised the moratorium as "a huge victory for people and the environment".

"For nearly a decade, local people all over the country have fought David against Goliath against this powerful industry," he said, hoping a law would ban permanent hydraulic fracturing. .

© 2019 AFP